PuppetLight Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Hi all,I am currently working as the designer on a new adaptation of The Emperors New Clothes. The director/writer has decided he wants one of the characters to play with a jar of spit then fling it over the audience (despite us telling him how the audience won't like it). I need to fill a jam jar with the spit like liquid, however it has to have a thicker consistency and be vegetarian friendly ( I am hoping it is simmilar to making snot)Any help would be great.ThanksCW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Agar agar? you could make a nice mix with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Vegetarian friendly? I suspect I'd be more concerned of cleaning bill friendly - because if somebody threw simulated spit at me, and it landed on my clothes, I'd want them cleaned at no cost to me whatsoever. Any protestations that the material was safe wouldn't work with me - If the tickets warned "Please note that as a condition of purchasing your ticket, you give permission to have simulated body fluids thrown at you" I don't think I'd want to know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart91 Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Could you stage the scene in such a way that the actor throws the "spit" towards the audience, getting the reaction from them, but have it stop short of actually hitting them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Vegetarian friendly? Agar is its veggy jelly made from seaweed. but +1 for any ideas of dealing with a very angry member of the public who obtained a facefull. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImagineerTom Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 Explain to the director what "acting" is and how "pretending" is going to be considerably safer, easier and better than taking a literal approach. Then shelve the stupid idea before one of the company get punched by an audience member who thinks you've just ruined their expensive new jacket and caused a biohazard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 ...If the tickets warned "Please note that as a condition of purchasing your ticket, you give permission to have simulated body fluids thrown at you" Worth noting that such a condition would be unenforceable if printed on the ticket as it'd be deemed that you are trying to impose conditions after the sale had taken place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WiLL Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 You can buy glycerin to add to warm water which should thicken the water to a saliva like consistency with some trial and error. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigclive Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Unpalatable as it sounds, if you really have to pull this stunt then the only thing you should throw into the audience is a small amount of water. Contaminants like thickeners pose a clothing damage risk (not to mention damaging expensive cameras and phones). You could use a goopey liquid made from J-lube polymer to make the water stringy and slimey, then do a switch for the plain water before the audience "participation". I'd also suggest using a lightweight plastic container in case the while thing gets inadvertently launched into the audience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomscott Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Does it have to be liquid? In our panto this year we had to throw some "custard" into the audience at one point. The custard was actually 2 squares of yellow fabric sewn together with something inside to give a bit of weight. Judging by the front couple of rows reaction it was pretty effective, there were a couple of screams until they realised what it actually was. As someone said above, it required a bit of acting to make people think it was actually a liquid inside the bowl. Don't know if this will work in your production tho? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave m Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 did water from a bucket once with rolled up cling film . some in balls with sort of tails, some just scrunched up. Possibly harder if using a small jam jar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SamDram Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Dissolving a large amount of sugar into a jar of boiling water will leave you with a fairly spit-esque substance (Obviously, let it cool before chucking it at people). Won't be damaging to clothing/will easily wash out, probably even tastes alright...the risk of course, is that it won't be very clear...and could potentially look like something else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Won't be damaging to clothing/will easily wash out,... Really? Cashmere? Silk? Pure Wool? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 Sugar? Have you seen the mess it makes? It goes sticky, attracts dirt and though it may come of people with quick application of water, sugar can go brown if heated, and on the seats, the sugar can set rock hard. When you coke a stage, it's the sugar that make the surface tacky - you want to put that on people clothes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spacket Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 You will be destroyed by an angry audience member if you put anything but water in there! it just takes one person to take it the wrong way... though to be honest im pretty chilled in shows, but if someone did throw something on me that was anything other than water I probably wouldnt be too happy! id say just use water! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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